What are the best tools for tracking all-round email deliverability?

Key findings

• Google Postmaster Tools: These free tools are widely recognized as a foundational resource for understanding email performance with Gmail, offering insights into domain and IP reputation, spam rates, and DMARC failures. However, they are not always perfectly reliable.
• Internal data analysis: Regularly monitoring campaign metrics such as bounce rates, complaint rates, and unique clicks within your ESP (email service provider) is crucial. This first-party data forms the baseline for understanding your sending behavior.
• Third-party tools: Specialized deliverability platforms often provide more granular data, including inbox placement testing (seed lists), blocklist monitoring, and comprehensive DMARC reporting beyond what free ISP tools offer. These tools can help identify issues with content, infrastructure, and authentication.
• Proactive monitoring: The most effective approach involves establishing a baseline of your sending performance and actively monitoring for sudden changes. Tools should be used to confirm or gain deeper insights into issues identified through your primary data, rather than being the sole source of alerts.

Key considerations

• Data accuracy: While third-party tools are helpful, their seed list accuracy can sometimes be questionable, leading to potentially misleading results, especially when used with certain ESPs.
• Root cause analysis: Understanding that domain and IP reputation issues stem from sending behavior is crucial. Tools can highlight symptoms, but a deep dive into your email practices is necessary for true remediation. Learn more about why your emails might be failing.
• Cost vs. features: Deliverability tools vary significantly in features and pricing. It's often necessary to conduct demos and RFPs to compare offerings and build a business case that aligns with your specific needs and budget.
• ISP-specific tools: Beyond Google Postmaster Tools, Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) and other ISP-specific feedback loops (FBLs) are vital for gaining insights directly from major mailbox providers. These are free resources that provide direct feedback on your email streams. You can read more about understanding Google Postmaster Tools for deeper insights. For more on the landscape of deliverability, see EmailTooltester's review of the best deliverability tools.

Key opinions

• Google Postmaster Tools as a primary resource: Many marketers start their deliverability tracking with Google Postmaster Tools, acknowledging its utility as a free indicator, despite some perceived inconsistencies.
• The power of spreadsheets: A fundamental approach involves meticulously tracking campaign metrics (bounces, complaints, clicks) in a spreadsheet, correlating them with content and timing to establish a performance baseline.
• Varying experiences with third-party tools: Marketers report mixed experiences with tools like GlockApps, noting issues with seed list accuracy and inconsistent results when testing with certain ESPs like Klaviyo.
• Importance of self-evaluation: Before relying solely on external tools, understanding your own sending behavior is critical. This proactive approach helps in investigating anomalies rather than just reacting to tool-generated alarms.

Key considerations

• Reliability of seed lists: A common concern is the accuracy of seed lists provided by some deliverability tools, which can lead to misinterpretations of inbox placement. Ensuring your inbox placement testing is robust is vital.
• Understanding core metrics: Regardless of tools, marketers emphasize the need to understand how ESPs calculate metrics like bounces and opens, as this impacts data interpretation.
• Comprehensive tool evaluation: Marketers suggest that evaluating various tools through demos and RFPs is essential. This allows for a side-by-side comparison of features, costs, and overall fit for specific business needs. This aligns with advice on best analytics platforms for marketers. For more detailed comparisons of tracking features, explore Salesflare's comparison of email trackers.
• Integrating data sources: The ideal scenario involves integrating data from internal sources, ISP postmaster tools, and third-party solutions to form a holistic view of deliverability.

Key opinions

• Behavior-driven reputation: Experts stress that IP and domain reputation are direct consequences of sending behavior. Tools are useful for observation, but the underlying cause is always within the sender's control.
• Proactive vs. reactive: The ideal state involves understanding your sending so well that you proactively investigate potential issues, rather than simply reacting to alerts generated by monitoring tools. This allows for more strategic intervention.
• Holistic view: A comprehensive approach combines internal data, free ISP tools like Google Postmaster Tools, and commercial services to create a complete picture of deliverability. Each component offers unique value.
• Importance of feedback loops: Direct feedback loops (FBLs) from ISPs are invaluable as they provide firsthand data on spam complaints. Understanding how to interpret and act on these is critical for maintaining good sender reputation.

Key considerations

• Beyond basic metrics: While basic metrics are essential, experts recommend delving deeper into specific KPIs that reveal deliverability trends, such as complaint rates, spam trap hits, and authentication failures. For more on this, explore what KPIs to use.
• Interpreting blocklist data: Being listed on a blocklist (or blacklist) indicates a severe issue, often related to sending unwanted email. Experts advise using blocklist monitoring tools but emphasize resolving the root cause of the listing. Learn more in our in-depth guide to email blocklists.
• Authentication monitoring: Proper DMARC, SPF, and DKIM configuration is critical for deliverability. Tools that provide DMARC report analysis are highly recommended for identifying authentication failures. A good resource for understanding these is Word to the Wise's guide on DMARC.
• Vendor selection: When choosing third-party platforms, evaluate their capabilities in areas like inbox placement, IP health monitoring, and FBL analysis to ensure they align with your deliverability strategy.

Key findings

• Authentication standards: Documentation consistently emphasizes the critical role of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC in authenticating senders and preventing phishing and spoofing. Proper implementation is essential for reputation and deliverability.
• Feedback loop importance: ISPs provide feedback loops (FBLs) to senders, offering a mechanism to receive direct reports on user complaints. Leveraging these is vital for maintaining a clean sending list and good reputation.
• Reputation signals: Mailbox providers often publish guidelines on factors influencing sender reputation, including consistent sending volume, low complaint rates, and avoiding known blocklists (blacklists).
• Content and engagement: Beyond technical setup, content quality and recipient engagement (opens, clicks, replies vs. spam complaints, deletions without opening) are significant factors influencing inbox placement.

Key considerations

• Adherence to RFCs: Ensuring your email systems comply with relevant RFCs (Request for Comments) is foundational. Deviations can lead to delivery issues or messages being flagged. Learn about what RFC 5322 says versus what actually works.
• DMARC policy implementation: Progressing your DMARC policy from 'none' to 'quarantine' or 'reject' is a recommended security and deliverability best practice, but requires careful monitoring of DMARC reports. Find out how to safely transition your DMARC policy.
• Monitoring complaint rates: High spam complaint rates, directly reported via FBLs, are a strong negative signal to ISPs. Promptly removing complaining users is crucial for maintaining sender health. Mailbox providers like Gmail offer tools for monitoring deliverability and complaint rates.
• Managing bounce rates: Consistent hard bounces indicate invalid addresses. Regular list hygiene is essential to keep bounce rates low, which directly impacts sender reputation and deliverability.